Off-duty cop says he reacted when punched
Prosecutors believe that Jason Mitchell, 28, called his middle school bully a name, and got brutally beaten. Mitchell testified his nose was “filleted down the middle,” he had cuts and bruises all over his face and was choked from behind.
Off-duty police officer Kenneth E. Bittinger III testified that he reacted when Mitchell took a swing at him outside a Uniontown bar, punching him one time in the face. That punch knocked Mitchell unconscious, Bittinger testified, and he fell face first into the dirt.
But a panel of Fayette County jurors may not get to decide what version of events they believe.
After a full day of testimony, Judge Steve P. Leskinen said he was inclined to grant a mistrial because Senior Deputy Attorney General Anthony J. Krastek repeatedly asked Bittinger, 28, of Uniontown why he left Darby’s Pub on March 1, 2005, and called his lawyer instead of waiting to give a statement to police.
“Had someone robbed a convenience store and left the scene, you would not be able to ask why because it would impugn his right to remain silent,” Leskinen said.
Bittinger testified he left the bar after he punched Mitchell, of Uniontown, outside the establishment to avoid a full-blown fight between him and his friends and Mitchell’s friends. When he got home, Bittinger testified he called his lawyer, Nicholas Timperio. As part of his police training, Bittinger testified he was taught that when he was involved in a situation where he would need to give a statement, he should contact his attorney.
Krastek then went on to ask several questions centered upon why Bittinger, a former member of the county’s drug task force and an experienced municipal police officer, did not call police and offer himself for a statement.
After jurors left for the day, Leskinen told Krastek he had the evening to find case law supporting the line of questioning that intimated Bittinger, as a police officer, should have talked to police.
“I’ve never seen that authority in 27 years, because I’ve never had a reason to look for it,” Leskinen said. “Now you have a reason to look for it.”
With a relatively short witness list that included character testimony provided on Bittinger’s behalf, testimony in the case wrapped up in a day’s time. Bittinger is charged with aggravated assault and simple assault.
Jurors heard from 5-foot 7-inch, 170-pound Mitchell, who testified he saw Bittinger at the bar and, after a while, approached him. He said the two had a brief conversation, but described it as “uncomfortable.”
Bittinger, who is much larger than Mitchell, testified he felt the exchange was amicable, so he was nonplussed when Mitchell swung at him and hit him behind the ear outside the bar later in that evening.
As “more of a reaction than an action, I turned around and struck back,” Bittinger testified.
Believing he knocked Mitchell out with the force of the blow, Bittinger testified he went back into the bar and told his friend to go outside and check on Mitchell.
Terrence Stokes testified that as he was heading out, Mitchell was heading in. Not wanting to further the conversation, Bittinger testified they left.
Mitchell testified he never swung at or hit Bittinger, and remembers a fist coming at him before he was knocked unconscious. Just before the punch was thrown, Mitchell recalled calling Bittinger a name, which prosecutors believe may have provoked his ire.
When he briefly regained consciousness, Mitchell testified Bittinger was on his back, choking him.
“You wanted to die tonight, you’re going to die tonight,” Mitchell testified Bittinger said.
Under questioning from Timperio, Mitchell acknowledged that after the first punch, he never saw Bittinger again, but recognized his voice. When he regained consciousness, Mitchell testified he felt his way back into the bar and was greeted by a scream.
Darla Carr, a bartender at Darby’s that night, said she saw Mitchell walk in, his face covered in dirt and blood.
“It was like a bad horror movie,” she testified.
The injuries Mitchell sustained were serious enough to require hospitalization for several days in Morgantown, W.Va., Mitchell testified. He needed surgery to fix his nose, and for about one and a half months afterward, Mitchell testified, he had difficulty seeing out of his right eye and with breathing.
Still, Mitchell testified, it is painful for him to breathe through his nose on cold days.
With injuries from Mitchell’s forehead to his chin, Krastek asked Bittinger how that could have happened with one punch.
“Is your fist that big, sir?” Krastek asked.
“I don’t believe honestly that all of those injuries were caused by the blow to his face,” Bittinger said.
Three character witnesses testified on Bittinger’s behalf. Assistant District Attorney Mark D. Brooks, who runs the county’s drug task force, and police officers Autumn Fike and H. Dennis Field each testified that Bittinger has a reputation for non-violence.
Bittinger was a member of the task force and an officer in Fairchance before these charges were filed against him.
If the case does not end in a mistrial, jurors will hear closing arguments and begin deliberations today.